I got this GF-9696 from eBay back in August for what I thougth was a fairly decent price. The seller had rightfully disclosed it was missing its tape deck motor.

Lucky for me, I was eventually able to get one from our esteemed member DRIPTIP via a trade that involved a couple of his boxes, a GF-9696 tape mechanism and a small bit of cash in exchange for my quite minty Panasonic RX-5600L.

I will miss the Panasonic RX-5600, but overall I couldn't be happier right now!

The GF-555 & GE that I got from Driptip do need some attention and I will upload some pics of those eventually. The big news right now is that I got my GF-9696 up to 100% a little over a week ago. I've been playing it a lot since then and the tape drive appears to be steady and strong.

Had I given it just a bit more thought prior to taking these pics, I'd have used a reel tape instead of the memorex metal that was playing at the time. And I also would have cleaned the dust off of the mid-range supports across the woofers.

Nonetheless, here are some pics of my "new" toy!

SUPER YAY! I'm glad to hear that you got this beautiful box restored. It will now love you forever!

Have you started on the GF-555 yet?

A very pretty one!
I love those Sharp.
The silver design is very solide looking.
And i´m sure it sounds great too!

Hi-Sweet Gf9696!
Those Sharps are so cool.Super high quality all the way.
Thanks for showing us that!
Have a great weekend-Ghettoboom777.

nice job JT!

The 9696 is one hell of a box when it comes to design.

I really love the last 3 shots!!

a stunner!

Nice work JT I love the single cassette Sharp line and don't believe it gets much better in the looks department then the 9696. I imagine a very clean crisp sound with clear bass much like the Panasonic RX-5150 but with a lower volume capacity then say the JVC M-70, hope to someday hear one in person Anyway cool box and resto...it's always nice to hear about members doing deals where both parties are pleased in the end. Oh and I love Reels as much as the next member but it's a nice change in pace to see something different in the tray from time to time

Brian

Nice. I`ve got 2 of these rascals, both needing c apstan bush.

Gorgeous - love it, love it, love it.

Right on... thanks for the kind words, gang. The 9696 is actually quite loud. From the Radio it seems to do a bit better with bass than it does from the tape deck. With the radio it compares quite well with my M-70, but the M-70 tape deck does a better job with the Bass.

Since I have another tape deck assembly for this box here, I am toying with the idea that might even change them out just to see if the head sounds better in the other unit. I think the tape deck in my GF-9191 sounds a bit "bassier" than this box too... I'll have to give that a proper test.

Litfan, don't be too afraid about that capstan bushing repair. It wasn't that difficult.

Instead of screen spline, which may not be readily available in the UK in the same dimensions as it is here, Fatdog mentioned to me that a small piece of silicon tubing used for hobby R/C cars & planes' fuel lines will do the trick quite well.

Great work John and she looks great.

quote:

Great work John and she looks great.

Thanks Juan, I heard you got yourself another 'Funken on the way! M1 style! Congrats. Can't wait to see some pics of that bad-boy and hear it!

Nice work JT, she's beatiful!

I have a 9696 to repair and I think I'm going to use you as my inspiration.

good job JT, The unit looks clean and they sure sound loud.

hey~JT~!! it looks mint~!

It seems the announcement of my self-diagnosed clean bill of health for the 9696 may have a tad premature. I had the box sitting outside for a while and then stepped out to listen to a tape and it sounded lousy. Like it was under water or something. It was still playing at correct speed, but something was clearly not right anymore. It was slightly cooler yesterday than it has been the last few days, but I don't think the temperature drop should cause this? Should it?

Anyway, having recently had my Nakamichi home deck overhauled and similar adjustments made, I decided to take the tape door off and play with the azimuth adjustment screw. It definitely sounded like the tape was not making proper head alignment all of a sudden as one channel was noticeably more quiet than the other.

And to be completely honest, since getting this deck back in working order, I have had the feeling this tape deck was not playing to its fullest potential. I felt my GF-9191 sounded more crisp and full, when it really should not have... But at least it was playing out of both channels equally before. Not sure what happened...

Anyway... I busted out a first generation Maxell UD-XLII which I knew contained a very good recent recording and removed the tape door and went to work with the small screwdriver. Half way through the process it got to the point where I needed headphones for critical adjusting, which did help a lot. All in all it took me between 10 and 15 minutes to dial it in. Now the 9696 sounds like a slightly louder version of my 9191, as it should. I'm convinced that the deck is now playing up to its original standard. A considerable improvement over before.

I should have done that adjustment much earlier!

So, since the correct-era cassette loaded and my camera was not too far away, I had to snap a couple more pics (of course).



My new favorite, soon to be my Avatar...

Congratulations JT-you had success also!
I love fixing these things especially when you can!
That is one serious box.Tape speed and echo-no way!! That's rare!
I have a GF-9191 on my wanted list!
But I definately like this one even better.
Maybe after I take a break this winter from buying major boxes I'll get one of these next year.
Thanks again-Ghettoboom777.

Fantastic box and shots, congrats JT.

Now light up a Romeo & juliet and enjoy the sounds JT!

She's a beaut!

Those maxell tapes are superb. I still have some XL-II`s from the 80`s. Still sound excellent.

Nice work,man! I'm curious as to what you adjusted on the deck so that we all might know for future reference should we have to perform similar maintenance on our decks!

Yup, gotta love those UD-XLII's. To me, those are more vintage looking than the Teac reel tapes. Well, they didn't sell those Teac's where I was living either, so I bought Maxells.

As for what I adjusted on the tape head, if you look just below the APLD #6 button, behind the tape door on that last photo, you will see a little rectangular notch / hole. That is where you adjust the tape head alignment.

Understand that for high-end home decks there is a much more involved process that usually involves special calibration cassettes and a scope or analyzer that can verify a test tone. Also with home decks, there are head up/down and tape speed adjustments that are taken into consideration as well. For most of our boomboxes my method should work fine.

You must first unscrew the tape door and remove the door cover. Then, put in a tape that you know for sure was made with strong, even recording levels. Hit the play button and set bass/treble settings to flat, balance to center, loudness to off, and to stereo. I want the signal as flat as possible for this kind of thing. And, for easiest critical listening I suggest the use of decent headphones.

Next you will need a small flat-head screwdriver that can get into the adjustment hole and also fit the head adjustment screw. That screw should only be visible when the head is down on the tape.

So, as the tape is playing, start adjusting the screw head back and forth until the L & R channels sound both clear and equally strong. It will be easy to notice when you have moved too far in either direction. Avoid unscrewing the adjustment screw all the way, you could do more harm than good.

Once you are pleased with the sound, you should put in another tape (if possible from another manufacturer and recording source) to see if that one sounds good as well. If so, then you are done. However, sometimes, you can have the settings pefect for one type of tape and another kind will sound terrible. This process is all about finding the best compromise for all of your tapes to sound decent.

G'luck! It can take longer than you think getting this right.

What a beautiful BBX!

The 9696 is next on my short list of personal grails!